A journal of desserts, experiments and learning

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banana

First ever whipped cream frosted cake! With droopy stars! Lesson: Whipped cream softens rapidly in sg’s unforgiving heat, so move fast. I could see the stars falling as I photographed them. This cream contains carrageenan, which gives the whipped cream a smoother texture. However, carrageenan-laced cream doesn’t taste as good as pure cream so that’s what I’d use if I’m going for the best flavor.

Genoise is a basic cake, it is a little dry and sturdy enough to be soaked with flavored syrups. Genoise recipes generally share these basic steps – Eggs and sugar whisked over a bain-marie until lukewarm and the sugar dissolved, then whipped to a pale fluffy foam. Flour is folded in, followed by melted butter, and baked at about 175C until it pulls away from the sides of the tin.

Bananas take on a lovely deep flavor when baked, releasing their juices and caramelizing on top. There is nothing quite like a house perfumed by sweet roasting bananas. Too bad they look like they’ve emerged on the losing end of a fight, all soft, bruised and black in places. My gracious guests’ only comment was that it was very good. This is a dessert for people who can appreciate inner beauty.

On day 1, I bought a bunch of ripe bananas for granola. By day three they had become soft, black and unloved. You could freeze them and turn them into ice cream, or make banana breadcake. A regular banana will do in a pinch but very ripe bananas will give a really intense banana fragrance.

Hi! I'm from Singapore and working towards becoming a pastry chef. I believe that formal education is not a must, as the internet is full of brilliant and generous minds, and books will fill up most of the remaining gaps. I work hard and learn from my mistakes, if you would like to hire me, or chat about desserts and life, drop me an email at ahboing at gmail dot com :)